What do you do with the leftover fabric scraps? Don’t trash them. In colonial times, fabric was a precious resource for many who could not afford the luxuries of new textiles as manufactured for the royals. Anything that could be repurposed was salvaged for clothes or other everyday uses like cleaning cloths.

Today, fabric scraps can be any leftover material from garment-making, upholstery projects or fabric craft like quilting. It used to be that patchwork quilting was made from any old leftover fabric or was taken from clothes that were no longer usable. People are now doing patchwork quilting for fun and have made it into a form of art. People like to use fine fabrics, and create detailed stitching and beautiful designs on their patchwork quilting. They usually come in small pieces with a variety of colors and textures.

While some of us are willing to throw away the scraps, others take the opportunity to use them for a variety of creative and useful projects. Here are seven ways to use your fabric scraps in creative DIY projects.

1. Design a Quilt: The most popular project to make with fabric scraps is a quilt! With some basic quilting knowledge and supplies, you can piece together different colored scraps of fabric to make an eye-catching quilt. This is a great way to upcycle fabric and create something special.

2. Make Reusable Produce Bags: If you have mesh fabric scraps, you can easily sew them together to make reusable produce bags. This is a great way to reduce your plastic consumption while still having a functional and stylish product.

3. Make a Garland: For those who like the idea of decorating with fabric scraps,you can combine the pieces and make a string of garland. This could be a wall hanging, or something to hang from the ceiling. The possibilities are infinite.

4. Create Decor Pillows: A great way to spruce up a couch or chair is to sew together fabric scraps and make a pillow! You can keep it simple or mix and match colors and patterns. Either way, it’s sure to be a conversation piece.

5. Transform a Boring Bag: If you have an old bag lying around that you’d like to spruce up, you can use fabric scraps to cover it or make a patchwork of colors and patterns. It’s a fun and easy way to transform any bag.

6. Make a Fabric Scrap Wall Art: Another great way to display fabric scraps is on a wall art canvas. All you need is some canvas, fabric glue, and fabric scraps. Line up the fabric pieces on the canvas, then glue them into place.

7. Use as Embellishment: For all the sewists out there, fabric scraps are perfect for embellishing clothing, creating labels, or a number of other high end fabrics items. You can even use them for customizing a store-bought item.

These are just a few ideas of what to do with your fabric scraps. With a bit of imagination and creativity, you can create something beautiful and unique with the fabric scraps you have lying around.